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Vintage Fabric Dolls

I just discovered a fantasticvintage fabric and craft supply store here in Portland, and made these simple pillow dolls with some of the fabric I found. I embroidered the faces with my regular sewing machine, but it worked pretty well. The twins love to pretend they are putting the dolls to bed.

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wow, how fun! They look really small in the first picture, then when you scroll down you realise how big they are. Love the faces embroidered on the black. Ps- discovered your blog recently, and love it. Thanks for the inspiration!

so adorable! one more reason for me to really miss Portland even more...that shop looks awesome. question for the girl who is new to sewing (me), when you say machine embroidered, does that just mean you stitched over it or is it a special thing your machine does? (sorry if that is a dumb question!)

Sarah - Yeah, I'm pretty new at all this too, so I know what you mean. Machine embroidery is just sewing a stitch on your sewing machine and making a drawing out of the stitch. To do this, I just sketched out the faces with some white chalk, and followed my chalk drawing with my machine, then dusted off the chalk. simple.

There is also a special embroidery foot that you can get for your sewing machine. I just got one and it's pretty cool! This is a great youtube video that shows you the foot in action:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9ADupRXK8Y

Then the other type of embroidery is "hand embroidery", which is very awesome, and actually a lot easier than machine embroidery (I think), but it's slower of course. Also, hand embroidery is totally cheap. All you need is some embroidery thread, a needle and a hoop. Do a youtube search for hand embroidery and you'll find tons of cool stuff. Here's a quick one I did, but it doesn't explain how to do it:

Yay, Knittn Kitten is great! I love that store! If you feel like doing any techy creations, there's Free Geek tech thrift store on about 10th & Hawthorne, and have you been to SCRAP? It's off of MLK, and has all kinds of amazing recycled materials for creating stuff.

Yay, Knittn Kitten is great! I love that store! If you feel like doing any techy creations, there's Free Geek tech thrift store on about 10th & Hawthorne, and have you been to SCRAP? It's off of MLK, and has all kinds of amazing recycled materials for creating stuff.

Heather - Yes, I have been Scrap, ooh, and also the Rebuilding Center down the road from there is amazing. I've not been to the Free Geek tech thrift store though. Definitely checking that out! Thanks!

[...] me what toys and craft projects end up being favorites in our house. One of the hits has been these vintage fabric dolls that I made a year and a half ago. My daughter really latched onto hers, and has slept with it [...]

[...] another note, I did some stitching too :) Bear was enamoured by Made By Joel’s vintage fabric dolls and begged me for one. We dove into my stash of fabrics and settled on a cheery green and pink [...]

[...] another note, I did some stitching too :) Bear was enamoured by Made By Joel’s vintage fabric dolls and begged me for one. We dove into my stash of fabrics and settled on a cheery green and pink [...]

[...] this toy with some vinyl (left over from my DIY iPad case), and a little fabric I still had from these dolls. It was so fast, I think I’ll make some more that look a little different, so I can put them [...]

Just like everyone else. I love your creations so simple and yet beautiful. I have three girls and would love to make these dolls for them. What stuffing did you use? It looks heavier than than normal doll stuffing.

Hi GG, thanks! I actually used a pretty light stuffing (just poly fill or something), but they do look heavier in the photos don't they. You could try a wool stuffing to add some weight, or if you really want some heft to them, then try cutting strips from old tee shirts or pillow cases and using that. See here for an example: http://madebyjoel.com/2011/05/recycled-denim-ball-for-kids.html

Dear Joel.
I am a Los Angeles area dollmaker and have a website and blog with my daughter Sophie. I discovered your site when I was looking for DIY marionettes and saw your charming video. I love the travel size paper city Paris and got so excited, I downloaded it, cut it out and bought some altoids so I would have a box to store it in! I just found your vintage dolls and love the deceptive simplicity combined with vintage fabric and artistry in the dolls faces.
Keep up the good work - I will be checking your site often!
Thanks for inspiring me!
Denise aka Sasha
Denise aka Sasha